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Show of postmasters and other classifi- , cations of personnel, and while Cms may step on some political toes, we believet the Civil Service Commission Com-mission and our government Congressional Con-gressional Committee will be u accord, and that's a big step toward to-ward improved efficiency. What happens in the Post Office Ointment under business management man-agement will be worth watcninr, At this stage it promises both efficiency ef-ficiency and economy. sound management organization and sound and human business practices throughout the whole operation, the postal service employees em-ployees will do the job more efficiently, effic-iently, more happily we feel and with substantial savings in cost." And eliminate the year-after-vear deficit? "We feel confident," said Hook, "that the deficit can be reduced and at the same time the service improved. But in this objective ob-jective we're dependent on the cooperation co-operation of Congress. Congress sets the postal rates, thus- our income. in-come. It determines our basic costs by setting our. wage rates for postal employees. We've been getting fine cooperation. As a result re-sult of our initial studies, we hope to raise the qualification standards $tLOOXIMG Jfel AHEAD ' ?TFm GE0RGES- BENSON Setret. Arietta DEFICIT CUTTERS AT WORK WASHINGTON A group of hard-headed businessmen, imbued with a genuine spirit of public service, ser-vice, have rolled up their sleeves and gone to work in the massive graystone building on Pennsylvania Pennsylvan-ia Avenue from which is directed the $20 billion a year business of the United States postal service. They have a single-minded purpose to improve- the nation's postal service while reducing its cost. If they succeed, their chief reward will be the satisfaction of showing show-ing that sound business management manage-ment can be a practical expectancy m government. The personal background of a number of the members of the new management "team" now being recruited re-cruited in the Post Office Department, Depart-ment, under the leadership of Arthur Ar-thur Summerfield, was quite well known to me when I walked into the Postmaster General's suite of offices. In the field of business and industry where they have carved out their success through hard-gained hard-gained know-how, their abilities could not be had for double or triple the salaries they'll receive from Uncle Sam. I put the question ques-tion to Charles R. Hook, Jr., ue-puty ue-puty postmaster general and organizational or-ganizational workhorse of the new Summerfield team: "What motivates motiv-ates you men to make the financial finan-cial sacrifices you're making to come to Washington?" Security at Stake Hook is the son of one of America's Ameri-ca's most widely known steelmakers. steelmak-ers. He literally grew up in industry indus-try but on his own. As a vice-president vice-president of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad for the past six years, he has become recognized as one of the country's top authorities author-ities on organization anu personnel person-nel management. Here was his answer to my question: "Our nation's predicament could be more serious only if we were in an all-out war. The American people peo-ple generally are aware of the fact that unless we begin operating our Federal government on a balanced budget and demand ability and personal integrity as basic characteristics char-acteristics of the people in the management of government, the future is not going to be one we would like for our children. We business people who are leaving our lifework and our homes to come to Washington feel this very deeply. We've been asked to make a contribution to the nation's security. se-curity. We've responded as all citizens in these times must." Taking Stock The first job of Summerfield and Hook was to size up the task. Here's what they found: a $20 billion yearly business with an operational op-erational budget of $2.9 billion, with more than 500,000 employees, with 43,000 post offices and postal Stations and with a deficit this year of $659,000,000! "Why," said Hook, "just our New York post office, one of the 43,000, does almost al-most as much business as Macy's department store, the biggest in the world." No wonder I found Hook hard at work in his office on Saturday! And he'd asked me if I'd mind doing the interview at the lunch hour! I didn't mind. Men with know-how Tn each phase of the operation of this mammoth business are being brought in. John Allen, of Chicago, is an example. Summerfield and Hook frankly do not know how Allen voted last November, but they know he is one of the best men in America on big transportation transporta-tion problems. For five years he's been general traffic manager for Sears, Roebuck and Co. His job with the new Post Office Department Depart-ment team is assistant postmaster general in charge of transportation. transporta-tion. Just Getting Started "We haven't filled all the key jobs," said Hook. "We're proceeding proceed-ing carefully, not being satisfied with less than the best in ability and character and heart. Meantime, Mean-time, we're approaching the overall over-all job here as a business problem. We're doing an organizational study, starting at the top. Our first objective is to raise the standard stan-dard of management. The overwhelming over-whelming majority of employees of the department are loyal, efficient, ef-ficient, dedicated people. With a |